King Charles sent where politicians cannot reach, says aide after Caribbean tour
The king did not apologize for slavery on his trip, but his words of personal sorrow were welcomed by Commonwealth leaders. His aide says the government keeps sending him where politicians struggle.
LONDON, Nov 6 – King Charles is being sent more and more into tough political spots by the British government, which sees him as “a secret weapon,” a senior royal aide said after the king came home from a hard trip to the Caribbean.
The trip took him to the Bahamas, Guyana, and Antigua and Barbuda, where he led a meeting of the Commonwealth of Nations, the group of 56 countries that he heads.
One issue loomed over nearly everything: leaders across the region want Britain and the King to apologize for the slave trade and provide compensation for the harm it caused.
The King did neither in his speeches, in line with the British government’s policy. But he did express his own deep sorrow over the horrors of slavery, a gesture many Commonwealth leaders welcomed as a step forward.
The aide spoke to reporters with unusual frankness, on condition of anonymity. He described the trip as complex and demanding, but said the King had demonstrated his skill as a statesman both in what he said and in what he did.
“Sending the King is a great secret weapon,” the aide said. He added that the monarch could reach places that politicians likely could not.
As head of state, the King’s role is largely symbolic, and by law he must remain out of politics. Yet as Britain’s global influence has declined, the government has increasingly relied on him to play a leading role in its foreign policy.
He has been used, for example, to maintain smooth relations with US President Donald Trump, with whom Britain has clashed most recently over the war with Iran. The King hosted Trump on a state visit to Britain and later made his own state visit to the United States.
The aide said a clear pattern has emerged during the fifth year of Charles’s reign: the government keeps asking the King to step into politically charged and difficult situations, and the King enjoys it. Building and renewing ties with countries where sensitive political issues exist is, he said, what the King lives for.
The trip came at a hard time for Britain on the slavery question. Before it, ministers had not advised the king to apologize or offer money. But while he was there, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was open to talking about a formal apology on behalf of the British state.
Jamaica, which was not on the tour, filed a petition in London in September asking for $10 billion in reparations.
The trip was a bright spot in another hard year for the royal family.
A book about Charles’s first wife, Princess Diana, written by her brother, was published this year and criticized Charles’s response to her death.
His younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, remains under police investigation and continues to attract negative headlines, though he denies any wrongdoing. The return to Britain of the King’s younger son, Prince Harry, has also brought its own complications.
Charles remains head of the Commonwealth and head of state in 15 countries, including Canada and Australia. But the aide said that could change. Barbados removed the monarchy in 2021, and officials in the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda have expressed interest in becoming republics as well.
The aide said the decision rests with each country and the Commonwealth. He added that the royal family serves where it is wanted, and that if it is not, a new arrangement can be found.
Charles turns 78 this month and is still receiving treatment for cancer. But the aide said the best response to concerns about his age and health was the sight of him dancing down a street in the Bahamas with cowbells in 40-degree heat, laughing after being caught in a tropical storm.
He said this was what the King was born to do. He added that Charles is very good at it and enjoys the way people respond to him.
